An Australian schoolgirl killed in a bomb blast in the Iraqi capital Baghdad is being remembered as a fun-loving girl and a passionate student.
Twelve-year-old Zynab Al Harbiya, of Melbourne, died in the car-bombing of an ice-cream parlour that killed at least 14 people.
After a long day of Ramadan fasting, Zynab Al Harbiya asked her mother to take her to the ice-cream parlour.
It was, it turned out, the shop the self-proclaimed Islamic State would target with a car bomb, killing the 12-year-old girl from Melbourne's suburban Thomastown and more than 20 others.
Zynab Al Harbiya had only been in Iraq for a few days with her parents and siblings, visiting her sick grandfather.
Her mother and uncles were wounded in the bombing.
Cousin Layla Al Saabary says the girl had expressed fears about going to the Iraqi capital before she left Australia and she had run after her to assure her.
"She was going to get ice cream after she broke her fast. (crying ...) And I was running after her (back in Melbourne), and she was saying, 'Layla, I'm scared. There might be bombs in Iraq.' And I said, you know, 'That's okay, you'll be fine.'" (crying ...)
Layla Al Saabary says her cousin's murder shows how acts of terrorism can take place anywhere in the world.
"It just shows that terrorism can target everyone and that everyone can be a victim of it, and I really hope that no-one ever, ever experiences something like this ever again."
Zynab Al Harbiya was a student at Sirius College in the suburb of Broadmeadows.
The students there have held prayers, and the school has brought in counsellors for her classmates.
Principal Halid Serdar Takimoglu says it is a devastating time.
"All of us are deeply distressed that one of our smiling students has been taken from us in a cruel act of violence that is beyond understanding."
IS has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says it is a tragedy that shows IS has absolutely no respect for anything.
"This tragedy underscores the brutality of this terrorist organisation that shows no respect for religion, nationality, sovereignty, borders, no respect for humanity."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has expressed similar sentiments.
"The people who are doing this aren't acting in the name of their faith. They're just criminals motivated by murderous ideology, and I think every Australian feels so much for this little 12-year old girl from Melbourne's northern suburbs."
Zynab Al Harbiya was buried last night in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.
